The Doe, Dog and Stag
by DougieWebster
Summary: On Wednesday the 9th of February 1977 Lily Evans fled to the Library after a particularly difficult transfiguration exam. The seventeen year old red head had finally snapped and ran from the scene after a minor conflict with Severus Snape and his cronies. Minor. Rated M. Don't like, don't read. James/Lily
1. Chapter 1

A/n- I appreciate that there are a few mistakes here. I'm sorry for this but I tried to correct them and it wouldn't let me. Please note that I know the timing of the Snape / Remus incident is off, but if you could just go with t that would be great. Thanks! Please leave reviews.

The library was a vast collection of the perfect mixture of experience and imagination. The reason that Lily Evans liked the library was because all scary things, like vampires and trolls, and all sad things, like death and war, could be closed and put back on the shelf. The library was a retreat where nothing was real.

This is why on Wednesday the 9th of February 1977 Lily Evans fled to the Library after a particularly difficult transfiguration exam. The seventeen year old red head had finally snapped and ran from the scene after a minor conflict with Severus Snape and his cronies. Minor.

—

Twenty minutes earlier.

•

The corridor was pretty much clear outside the great hall as the sixth years had all disbanded to revise more for their last exam that afternoon, Defence against the Dark Arts.

Lily had been fighting back tears when Dorcas had asked if she wanted to take a walk on the grounds to work off some stress. The red head had simply shook her head and fiddled in her bag, trying to swallow around the huge lump in her throat. Now that everyone had gone she sighed and leaned her forehead on the closed door of the great hall, letting the first heavy tears fall down her porcelain cheeks.

She really hated transfiguration. But she seemed to say that about all of her subject choices. She regretted taking such hard studies, but the healer programme only accepted the best. It just so happened that on the day they chose what they wanted to do, James Potter, the big idiot, had spurted out a comment straight from his arse and said that she would do well on the healer programme.

That had been the first and last time she ever took his opinion into account she promised herself.

Just as she was about to drop by the kitchens before heading to the library again, a large number of footsteps sounded from down the hallway. She quickly spun from the wall and started walking in the other direction when the jeers started.

'Look boys, another mudblood out on her own.' Rodolphus, an accurate representation of a death eater called out.

'Wonder if she fairs better than the last one did?' Barty Crouch, the only known non slytherin active supporter in the school.

'Potter wouldn't approve of that, now would he Barty?' Rabastian Lestrange's deep voice sounded much kinder than the others. It was a shame it was still full of malice.

A muttered hex was thrown and Lily was forced to crouch to pick up her belongings off the floor where cutting hex had slashed a rip through her bag. Her new bag.

Unfortunately this gave the pack of fifth to seventh year death eaters a chance to slowly catch up to her. Her packing up became more frantic as she looked for her wand at the same time. Her vision was blurred by the transfiguration tears, so everything was proving rather difficult.

Another charm was muttered and a sudden gust of wind caused Lily to drop her belongings and grab at her school skirt which had flown up around her arms, giving the Slytherins a long look from behind at her white lacy knickers. Laughs pounded in her ears as her cheeks heated up and she let a few whimpers slip.

Lily was usual a decent match for the boys. The most talented witch of her age. But with the recent death of her parents, a brutal rejection from her sister and her transfiguration failure, all Lily wanted to do was curl up and have a rest from the world. And she couldn't find her wand.

The Slytherins had finally caught up with her. Seven in total ranging from eighteen to fifteen.

The Lestrange brothers were obviously the most dangerous, a fierce hate for muggleborns and the fact they were taught dark magic from birth kept Lily's eyes flickering between the two. Barty crouch wore an evil grin as he leant against the wall to her right, ready to watch the fight unfold.

Three Blacks graced her presence today. She was very wary of these three because of her new found friendship with Sirius. She was often found walking and sitting with him at lunch, and he had told her many stories about his vile family. His two cousins Bella and Narcissa were equally pretty, rich and talented.

His younger brother often looked out of place among the group, his strong resemblance to Sirius gave Lily a slight soft spot for him. She knew she wouldn't be able to hurt him and she only hoped they didn't make him do their dirty work for them.

Finally, loitering at the back of the group as usual, was Severus Snape. Lily completely avoided his eye contact, choosing instead to focus of the rigid movements of his left arm. So he'd finally done it then.

A sudden memory caused her to quickly unfold the cloak she had been carrying and extract her wand from the front pocket. The seven of them laughed at her.

'What you gonna do with that princess?' Barty whispered. He pushed off the wall and started towards her, a predatory gleam in her eyes. She raised her arm and pointed her wand at his heart.

'Stop.' Lily's voice sounded weak and shaky. She hated herself for being so weak. The sixth year Ravenclaw continued towards her and she retreated away from him. Her arm shook and as her foot skidded over an abandoned piece of parchment, she dropped her wand. Laughs louder than before sounded and her wand rolled over to stop in front of Regulus Black.

Her back hit the wall and she could feel Barty's breath on her face, dancing across her nose and cheeks as if they were lovers.

Lily tried to sidestep away, resulting in Barty's forearm coming to lean on there wall by her head. She leant in the other direction and his other arm boxed him in.

Her breathing picked up and she began to panic as the Slytherins laughs increased again.

'Is she as ugly up close B?' Bellatrix called, 'I wouldn't dream of getting that close to one.'

Barty let out a breathy laugh and leaned in more. As Lily lifted her chin defiantly she remembered first and second years when Barty and herself had been friends. They had sat together in history of magic and bonded over their mutual dislike of James Potter.

Lily voiced her thoughts and as the other Slytherins howled with laughter his grin became perverse and he replied,

'You didn't have these back then did you ginger?' His hands dropped from the walls to her chest and he squeezed her breasts. She let out a gasp and he forced his tongue down her throat, grinding his hips against hers which were stuck to the wall.

She used all of the strength in her arms and pushed against his chest, to no avail. When he finally decided he'd got what he wanted he pulled back and she slapped him hard across the face.

His features dropped their sarcastic humour and one of his arms pinned hers above her head, the other squeezing tightly. Her tears were running thick and fast and a voice sounded above the laughter.

'I don't understand why you have the need to be that close to a mudblood Barty. It would be like having sex with an animal.' Snapes sneer caused another bout of jeers while Barty's face retook his perverse grin.

'That's where you're wrong Severus, of course I wouldn't have sex with it. That would be unnatural. I simply appreciate the female body, and I enjoy using what is my right.' His hand slid down her front and gripped her sensitive area, hard. She sobbed. 'I like knowing what I could have.' His had trailed back up and squeezed her boobs again.

'Look at her, I doubt frigid Evans has ever had anyone touch her there. She's too ugly, no one would want her.' Bellatrix laughed as to Rodolphus playfully patted her bum.

'Is that right Evans? Am I your first? Well that turns me on a lot more than I thought it would,' he whispered into her ear. She held back her vomit knowing it wouldn't end well to ruin his robes.

'Anyway Severus, I'm sure we'd all appreciate a show now, what you always wanted, eh? Let's see if I can make her moan.' He attached his mouth to her neck, on the centre of the left side. He sucked as hard and he could then bit down, drawing bloody which he spat on the floor. 'Disgusting, your blood tastes of mud. Filthy animal.' He sneered before moving his hand to unbutton her blouse, 'Severus come closer, I know you want to.'

As Barty crouch turned his head to smile at his friends, Lily brought her knee up as fast and hard as possible, straight in between his legs. He cried out and rolled to the side as she took off into a run through the Slytherins, snatching her wand from Regulus on the way. As she sprinted curses were fired at her and she nimbly dodged until she was round the corner.

Lily's usually pale composed face was bright red and full of tears. She was sobbing and gasping as she ran away from reality and went to find peace in her world of knowledge and beauty.

The ginger briefly stopped in the prefects bathroom down the hall from the library and tried to clean up. She washed her face, applied a layer of make up on top of the splotches and fixed the bite mark on her neck. She didn't know how to get rid of the horrendous hickey but she flung her hair over that shoulder. She rebuttoned her blouse and straightened her skirt before shakily smiling at the mirror and heading out before she could see herself cry.

The library was a vast collection of the perfect mixture of experience and imagination. The reason that Lily Evans liked the library was because all scary things, like vampires and trolls, and all sad things, like death and war, could be closed and put back on the shelf. The library was a retreat where nothing was real.

It was the 9th February 1977 and Lily Evans made her way to the advanced history of magic section to start some defence revision. How ironic. Because of the awful teaching, no one took history of magic to Newt level, so the advanced section in the library was always empty. Dusty, but empty all the same.

Her favourite table was right in the corner of the library. It was positioned so one of the two seats was facing the rest of the room and one could lean against the corner. Lily had never told anyone about this place in fear of never doing any work.

She slouched into her seat and held the tears back as long as possible before casting the strongest silencing charm she could manage and crying and crying and crying. She had done this a lot over the years, it was her special place to scream and shout and no one would hear.

She cried for her weakness and cowardice, she cried for her stupidity in the recent situation and in the bloody transfiguration exam. She cried for the war and the death of her parents. She cried for petunia, and she cried for Vernon who would be stuck with her. She cried for muggleborns everywhere. She cried for her lost friendship with Severus and Barty, and she cried for Regulus. She cried for Sirius, she even cried for James Potter and their stupid fight which had caused Lily and Sirius' friendship to blossom.

Lily Evans was surprised she didn't run out of tears.

Lily Evans was even more surprised when a hand planted itself on her shoulder. She was beyond surprised, she was terrified. Her wand was suddenly digging in the mysterious, definitely male chest, and she slammed her back into the corner her arm fully outstretched, trying to keep whoever it was from touching her.

It took her a few moments to recognise the voice that was murmuring her name.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N- enjoy part two xx

'Lily... Lily it's okay. It's just me, c'mere Lils.' Sirius' voice had never sounded so soothing. His hand gripped her wand hand, gently trying to pull her closer to him but she flinched away, too aware of who the last boy was to touch her around her wrist and what he did.

She broke down into more quiet whimpers, desperately struggling to claw back some composure. Lily wrapped her arms around herself and sunk into her armchair, bringing her legs up so she could rest her forehead on her knees.

Sirius Black, heir of the house of black, most popular, handsome confident guy at Hogwarts, knelt down on his knees and patiently waited for Lily Evans to stop crying.

He had been absently looking at the map, knowing the other three marauders were at quidditch practice and taking one of the few opportunities he had to hold it again before he noticed his newly acquired friend Lily Evans running from some Slytherins. It was obvious from her running that she was dodging spells, but after he knew they weren't following her, he calmly watched her run into the prefects lavatory by the library. 'Cherry Tree' being the password he was ready to follow her before she left and made her way into the library.

He had never even noticed the small history of magic section in the farthest corner of the library but when Lily settled finally, he carelessly threw the map on James' bed, forgetting about how he was now an ex-marauder, and started on his way to find his best friend.

When he arrived he hovered nervously outside the silencing charm, seeing the only girl he now thought of as a sister painfully break down and sob. He gathered all of his Gryffindor courage and stepped into the bubble. He cringed at the heartbreak in her raspy voice.

When she didn't respond to his voice he was concerned, but when she physically stepped away from him he knew it wasn't just about the bloody transfiguration exam like he originally thought.

Sirius wished he had stayed with her after the exam, not speed walked away from his ex friends and left her when she was blatantly upset. His cowardice had helped cause her pain and he hated that fact.

When she calmed down enough for him to see her face, his own heart broke. He forgot all about his own problems and focused entirely on helping his friend. This was a recent development in Sirius. Ever since James, Remus and Peter had abandoned him (rightly so,) he had tried to think about Lily before himself. After all this practise he had done it subconsciously.

'Lily, what happened?' Sirius gazed up at her, expertly taking in the bruises on her wrists and the fear in her eyes from his own experience with abuse.

He also caught a glance at her neck where he could see a painful hickey standing out against her porcelain skin. That had definitely not been there this morning because she had tied her hair up in the exam and the world would have noticed it. Not to mention it's redness told him that it was definitely new. His experience as a whore was actually useful.

Lily tried to stop herself from telling him, she really did. But in the end she figured that after he had told her all about himself, even the dark bits he kept locked under the charming facade, he deserved to know about the incident.

'-and I've just been cr-crying ever since.' She finished.

Sirius would not admit later on that he had cried a little bit during the tale. Now as anger tried to take over his system, as he yearned I punch the slimy git and co, he remembered the fear in Lily's emerald eyes and he let out a deep breath, imagining his violence seeped out with it.

Sirius stood up and held his hand out to Lily. She took it gingerly and was hauled to her feet. Sirius tugged her into a light embrace, trying to hurt her as little as possible. He smoothed her hair down and cradled her waist.

When Lily tensed he pulled back.

'Lily, I want you to know, that none of us will ever hurt you. Least of all me, I know what it's like to feel so powerless, but you have to remember, that you are after all, the brightest witch of your age.' He kissed her forehead and she avoided his eyes.

'It's-it's not that. I um... My boobs really hurt.' She muttered looking down.

'They... Hurt?' Sirius kept his voice even, but it sounded even more deadly that way. 'So they're bruised? You need to go to the nurse.' He started to move.

'Wait.. Let me just check, that's not a conversation I want to have unless I really need help.' She brought a hand up and began unbuttoning her blouse. Sirius averted his eyes, and waited until he heard a sharp intake of breath.

'Fuck.' Lily cursed.

Sirius' eyes darted down her top, he felt awkward, like looking at his sister but he had to see for himself the damage. The usually pale skin was marked with black blue and greenish splotches. His arms tensed around her, knowing that was some serious bruising.

Lily looked up to see Sirius' eyes teared up a little bit starring at her marked skin.

That was when James walked in.

To James, it looked like his usual slutty best friend, and the girl of his dreams, wrapped in embrace, with her top unbuttoned, him leering down at her boobs in a very isolated part of the library with a silencing charm around them.

Before they all knew it they were forced apart by a mildly painful hex which had shot out from James' apparently drawn wand.

He turned the almost glowing piece of wood to his ex best friend who was slumped into the chair where he landed looking slightly dazed. Lily had not been so lucky and had landed on the floor in a pile against a bookshelf, her back having painfully collided with the ancient wood.

'What the mother fucking hell is going on here Sirius?' He exploded, shouting at the top of his lungs. Lily let out a slight whimper.

'It is not at all what it looks like mate.' Sirius sheepishly pushed back his shoulder length silky black hair.

'DON'T YOU BLOODY WELL 'MATE' ME! THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT COUPLES SAY WHEN YOU FIND THEM IN A BLOODY BROOM CLOSET. AT LEAST THEY HAVE THE DECENCY TO GET IT ON IN A PRIVATE AREA, NOT THE MIDDLE OF THE BLOODY LIBRARY!' James shot a silent stinging hex at Sirius. 'I GO UP TO THE DORM TO FIND THE MAP OPEN WITH YOU AND THE GIRL IVE BEEN IN LOVE WITH FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS SHARING THE SAME DOT IN A SECLUDED PART OF THE LIBRARY.' Another hex was sent. 'AND THEN I COME TO FIND YOU STARING DOWN HER TOP CUDDLING! HAS OUR FRIENDSHIP MEANT ANYTHING OVER THE LAST SIX YEARS?' He tried to hex again to find his wand flying out of his hand and being caught by the girl sat on the floor behind him. He turned to face her, 'and you- you went for Sirius of all people? Do you honestly love my best friend? My brother?'

Lily was doing up her buttons and trying to stand up. James stepped towards her but she flinched back against the shelf assuming her position from when she was sobbing.

'Yes I love him, but like a brother you absolute toe rag. I'm being the friend to him that he needs in his shitty life with his shitty luck, while you prance around acting like the bigger person because he made a fucking mistake.

And here I was crying my eyes out over a stupid test, debating whether or not to just snap my wand and be done with the wizarding world, and he comes in here, how you guys found me I don't know, and he tells me that none of you would ever hurt me. Even when you won't give him the time of day he bigs you up, and defends you against anyone who says a wrong word. And you know James Potter? You don't deserve Sirius Black. You might have once but you don't anymore.' Lily's voice was quiet and even. She spoke with such admiration of Sirius that James began to think rationally.

'That doesn't explain why he was staring at your cleavage when I came in, or why you have a hickey on your neck.' James' voice shook and he pleadingly stared at Sirius.

'I had a run in with some Slytherins and th-they um... pinned me and I only just got away. I'm a bit um... Bruised. Sirius was trying to convince me to go to the hospital wing when you came in and blasted me against this shelf.' She glared at him pointedly.

Sirius made his way to Lily and held her hand, helping her to her feet.

'We should be going then Lils,' Sirius muttered avoiding James' eye contact.

'Wait.' James said quietly. His best friend and the girl of his dreams stopped in front of him. Lily wrapped her arm around Sirius' waist and he rested his on her shoulders. They were standing together, supporting one another as they faced the boy who they both deeply cared about, even though only Sirius would openly admit it.

'I'm sorry.' Awkward beat. 'For coming in and shouting at you both when I had just assumed something was going on.' Awkward beat. 'And- and if you ever um.. liked each other or wanted to be with each other.. then if it made you happy I wouldn't do anything to stop it.'

James Potter was tall and confident, his features always twisted into a confident easy going grin. He never stumbled over his words and always looked like he knew exactly what was going on. Lily liked James Potter, but she almost fell in love with this other side to him straight away.

This James Potter was slouched in defeat, and unsure. He was wearing a serious expression but his eyes showed so much love for the two in front of him. He stumbled over his words twice and didn't know how to act. He showed that he put his friends before all else. This time when he raked his hand through his thick black locks, it was because he was nervous, not because he was vain. Lily really liked James Potter.

Sirius nodded and smiled, taking in Lily's expression of admiration. 'I don't think that could ever happen, but thanks mate.' He raised an eyebrow and flicked his eyes to Lily. Before tugging at her to come.

James smirked and put his hand on Sirius' shoulder to stop him walking off.

'I miss you Sirius. And I forgive you, so does Remus. I know that you would never do anything like that again.' He clapped his hand down once before Sirius launched himself at James, both of them bouncing into shelves as they fiercely hugged one another.

'I miss you too James.' Sirius whispered. And after months of coldness between the brothers, warmth seeped into both of them as they hugged.

Lily's laugh chimed in the background and they broke apart, grinning.

'You know Lils, this means that you're going to have to hang out with both of us now? I'm not letting my prongs out of my sight.' Sirius joked, throwing one arm over both his friends. The trio made their way out of the library and towards the hospital wing.

'Maybe James can help you tutor me transfiguration. After all, you're both animagi. That's the hardest there is.' She smirked up at her friend and smiled slightly shyly across at James.

James opened his mouth in shock 'Evans, you know? And you haven't told?' His deep brown eyes wide with delight.

'I've known since third year about Remus and I figures out the rest last year. Of course I haven't told, I couldn't do that to Remus.' She grinned cheekily and hugged Sirius' side.

'Well you know Evans, you really are the brightest witch of our age.' He winked.

Sirius walked it between his friends almost jumping around in excitement. He knew something more would come of his two friends, and he found it so utterly hilariously ironic how the one thing that impressed Lily, James never bragged about. His friendship, but most importantly, his stag form.

And then he remembered their patronus forms, and his grin got a whole lot wider.


End file.
